This Poems Story

I've always been fascinated by Greek mythology. One story that's always stood out to me was that of the deceiving innovator Daedalus and his infamous son, Icarus. Daedalus' story as a mischievous yet brilliant craftsman in Greek history left him imprisoned on the island of Crete as punishment for angering King Minos. Daedalus' ego and self-righteous nature would be passed on to his son, which inevitably would kill him for flying too close to the sun- an allegory about understanding and not growing overtly confident in your abilities in order to stay vigilant.

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”